According to CNBC calculations, a $1,000 investment in Amazon in September 2008 would be worth more than $23,890 as of Friday morning, or more than 22 times as much, including price appreciation and dividends reinvested.

If you put $1,000 in Apple at the same time, your investment would be worth $12,299 now, or more than 11 times as much. While impressive, that’s $11,591 less than Amazon.

Disclaimer: Since I’ve never owned Apple and have never been much of a trader, I have nothing to add. Don’t blame me if you drain your IRA doing something you read about here.